The Form RRB-1042S tax statement is issued by the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) and represents payments made to you in the tax year indicated on the statement. You will need to determine if any of the railroad retirement payments made to you are taxable. Explanation of items on Form RRB-1042S are on the back of this explanation sheet.

The mailing address shown on Form RRB-1042S is the address we currently have on our records. Please review the mailing address shown. If the mailing address shown is incorrect or incomplete, please provide the RRB with your correct mailing address.

Form RRB-1042S reports the Social Security Equivalent Benefit (SSEB) portion of tier I and special guaranty benefits paid and repaid to nonresident aliens of the United States, and the related U.S. Federal income tax withheld. SSEB payments are similar to social security benefits for U.S. Federal income tax purposes. Payments and repayments resulting from railroad retirement annuity adjustments are shown on your tax statements, and may be fully or partially subject to taxation. This is true whether adjustments result in net amounts due or net overpayments which you are asked to repay, and whether any overpayments are recovered or waived. A repayment is a returned payment, a cash refund, or an amount withheld from your annuity to recover an overpayment. Certain payments and repayments are not taxable and are not reported on your tax statements. These certain payments and repayments include tier I, tier II, vested dual benefits paid for a period before December 1983; tier II and vested dual benefits repaid for a period before December 1983; separation allowance lump-sum amounts; residual lump-sum amounts; lump-sum death payments; and Railroad Retirement Act tax refunds. For information about SSEB benefits and Form RRB-1042S, get IRS Publication 915, Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits.

NOTE: You should have received Form SSA-1042S and Notice 703 from the Social Security Administration (SSA) if you also received social security benefits for the tax year indicated on the Form RRB-1042S. Contact SSA not the RRB if you need Form SSA-1042S and Notice 703.

Our records indicate that you are a nonresident alien of the United States. A nonresident alien is an individual who is neither a citizen nor resident of the United States, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, or the Northern Mariana Islands. Taxes should have been withheld from your railroad retirement benefit payments made in the tax year indicated on your tax statement(s), unless you were exempt under a tax treaty between the United States and your country of legal residence. You are not required to file a U.S. Federal income tax return if: (1) your entire tax liability was fulfilled by withholding of tax on benefits; (2) your only income from sources within the United States was not connected to a trade or business; and (3) the correct amount of tax for the correct period was withheld from your annuity payments. However, you may wish to file an income tax return to receive a tax refund if too much tax was withheld from these payments. If your country of legal residence changed and/or your tax withholding rate changed during a given tax year, you may receive more than one set of Forms RRB-1042S and/or RRB-1099-R. If you were also a resident of the United States during a given tax year, you may receive Forms RRB-1099 and/or RRB-1099-R, and be required to file Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return. If you are required to file an income tax return, a negligence penalty or other sanction may be imposed on you if the income is taxable and the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) determines that it has not been reported. For more information on filing requirements for aliens, refer to IRS Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens. Railroad retirement payments are not taxable for U.S. state income tax purposes.

There are two boxes located at the top left hand side of the Form RRB-1042S indicated as Corrected or Duplicate. Neither box will be checked if this is an original Form RRB-1042S. One of these boxes is checked when either a corrected or duplicate Form RRB-1042S is prepared. Both boxes are checked if the Form RRB-1042S is a duplicate of a previously corrected Form RRB-1042S. You may receive more than one original Form RRB-1042S for the tax year indicated. Each original Form RRB-1042S is valid and should be included when you file your income tax return for the tax year indicated. A duplicate Form RRB-1042S is the same as a previously released original or corrected Form RRB-1042S. The RRB may issue a corrected Form RRB-1042S if there is an error in the original Form RRB-1042S. A corrected Form RRB-1042S replaces the corresponding "original" Form RRB-1042S. Therefore, you must use the latest corrected or duplicate Form RRB-1042S you received AND any original Form RRB-1042S that the RRB has not corrected when you file and/or amend your income tax return for that same tax year.

You may also receive a Form RRB-1099-R tax statement in addition to a Form RRB-1042S. Form RRB-1099-R reports the taxable paid, repaid, and U.S. Federal income tax withheld from, the Non-Social Security Equivalent Benefit (NSSEB) portion of tier I, tier II, vested dual benefit (VDB), and supplemental annuity payments. These payments are treated as private pensions for U.S. Federal tax purposes. For more information about these payments and Form RRB-1099-R, refer to IRS Pub. 575, Pension and Annuity Income. To determine your taxable amount, follow the Instructions for Form 1040 and/or Form 1040A Booklet(s), and/or IRS Publication 939, General Rule for Pensions and Annuities.

The totals reported on your Form RRB-1042S may not equal the total amount of SSEB payments you actually received during the tax year indicated. For beneficiaries receiving Medicare, the difference may be the total amount of Medicare premiums paid during the tax year indicated. Amounts shown on tax statements issued by the RRB are before any deduction for Medicare. Effective for tax years 1997 and later, the RRB only shows the total Part B, C, and/or D Medicare premiums that were deducted from railroad retirement annuity payments for the tax year indicated on Form RRB-1042S. The RRB does not show the Medicare premiums deducted from social security benefits on any tax statement issued by the RRB. In addition, Medicare premium refunds are not included in your Medicare premium total.

If you have any questions about how to figure your taxable payments and/or what amounts to show on your income tax returns and/or how to amend income tax returns, contact your own tax preparer or the IRS. However, contact the RRB if you have questions about your Form RRB-1042S and railroad retirement benefit payments, or if you need to request a duplicate Form RRB-1042S for any tax year. When contacting the RRB about your Form RRB-1042S, always give the claim number and payee code shown in Box 1 of your Form RRB-1042S. The recipient's identification number in Box 2 of the Form RRB-1042S is either the United States social security number OR individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) OR employer identification number (EIN) for the person or Estate listed as the recipient. IF YOU RESIDE WITHIN THE UNITED STATES, contact the RRB at 1-877-772-5772 for assistance with your inquiries. IF YOU RESIDE OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES, contact the U.S. CONSULATE/EMBASSY.

You may want to photocopy and retain this Form RRB-1042S for income verification and record keeping purposes.

Box 5 - Claim Number and Payee Code - This is the RRB claim number and payee code associated with the payments and repayments reported on this Form RRB-1042S.

Box 6 - Recipient's U.S. Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) - This is the taxpayer identification number (Social Security Number, Individual Taxpayer Identification Number or Employer Identification Number) associated with the payments and repayments reported on this Form RRB-1042S.

Box 7 - Recipient's Chapter 3 Status Code 16 - Indicates the amounts on this Form RRB-1042S were paid to an individual.

Box 8 - Recipient's Date of Birth - The date of birth of the recipient.

Box 9 - Gross Social Security Equivalent Benefit Paid in the year shown on the enclosed tax statement - This is the total amount of social security equivalent benefit portion of Tier 1 benefits paid to you in the tax year indicated on Form RRB-1042S. It includes any social security equivalent benefits paid in the indicated tax year that were for prior years.

Box 10 - Social Security Equivalent Benefit Repaid to RRB in the year shown on the enclosed tax statement - This is the total amount of social security equivalent benefits you repaid to the RRB in the tax year indicated including any benefits you repaid in the indicated tax year for prior years. You may have repaid a social security equivalent benefit by returning a payment, by making a cash refund, or by having an amount withheld from you annuity for overpayment recovery purposes.

Box 11 - Net Social Security Equivalent Benefit Paid in the year shown on the enclosed tax statement - This total is the amount in Box 9 minus the amount in Box 10. A figure in parenthesis is a negative amount. A negative amount means you repaid the RRB more than you received or were credited with receiving in the tax year indicated. If you received more than one Form RRB-1042S or Form SSA-1042S for the same tax year, a negative figure in Box 11 of one form can be used to offset a positive figure in Box 11 of another form. To see if any part of the social security equivalent benefit is taxable, refer to IRS Publication 915, Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits.

Box 12 - Federal Tax Withheld - This total is the amount of U.S. Federal income tax withheld from your social security equivalent benefits in the tax year indicated while you were a known or assumed resident, for tax purposes, of the country shown in Box 16.

Box 13 - Social Security Equivalent Benefit Paid for one year prior to the year shown on the enclosed tax statement - This is the amount of the social security equivalent benefit that was paid in the tax year indicated and due for one year prior to the indicated tax year. This amount is included in the amount in Box 9.

Box 14 - Social Security Equivalent Benefit Paid for two years prior to the year shown on the enclosed tax statement - This is the amount of the social security equivalent benefit that was paid in the tax year indicated and due for two years prior to the indicated tax year. This amount is included in the amount in Box 9.

Box 15 - Social Security Equivalent Benefit Paid for three or more years prior to the year shown on the enclosed tax statement - This is the amount of the social security equivalent benefit that was paid in the tax year indicated and due for a period of three or more years prior to the indicated tax year. This amount is included in the amount in Box 9. Any tier 1 benefit paid for a period prior to 1986 is treated as a social security equivalent benefit.

Box 16 - Country- This item indicates the country of which you were a known or assumed resident for tax purposes for the payments shown on this Form RRB-1942S.

Box 17 - Tax Rate - This is the rate (0%, 15% or 30%) at which U.S. Federal income tax was withheld from the social security equivalent benefits shown on this Form RRB-1042S.

Box 19 - Medicare Premium Total - This is only for informational purposes and the RRB does not report this amount to the IRS. This is the total amount of Part B, Part C and/or Part D Medicare premiums deducted from your railroad retirement annuity payments for the period covered by this Form RRB-1042S. The Medicare total is normally shown on Form RRB-1042S. However, if Form RRB-1042S is not required for the tax year indicated, then this total is shown on Form RRB-1099R. Medicare premiums deducted from your social security benefits, paid by a third party, paid through direct billing, or refunded to you will not be shown in this box.

Box 20 - Workers' Compensation Offset in the year shown on the enclosed tax statement - This figure is for informational purposes only. This is the amount of any workers' compensation deducted from you social security equivalent benefits.

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